TV-out?

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hearld500
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TV-out?

Post by hearld500 »

Well I've got a bit of a problem. When my roommate moved out she took the TV with here which had a VGA input, which I was using for my media center PC. My tv that I moved to the living room has only Svideo and RCA.

So I bought a VGA to Svideo/RCA cable adapter and I can't get it to work, best I can get is a fuzzy black and white image from the Svideo.
Looking at the ebay auction again I realized in a small disclaimer that some cards have a 'tv out' function.

The computer has an integrated intel card. Any idea how I can get this to work? Couldn't find anything directly relating to the tv-out function but seems like most intel chipsets are capable.
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Re: TV-out?

Post by DaMadFiddler »

Is the television an HDTV or a standard TV? Because even with an HDTV, you won't get anything more than 480i (640x480 interlaced) with composite or S-video.

Two questions:

1. What inputs does your TV have? The means (and cost) of finding the best solution depends on what your TV takes.

2. Does your computer only have a VGA out, or does it also have a DVI port?

Possible solutions:

If you TV has HDMI and your computer has DVI: HDMI is backwards compatible with DVI, so all you need is a relatively inexpensive adapter from Monoprice.com (or Amazon, or wherever you go for cheap connectors).

If your TV has component (three video cables, and two audio), you can get an adapter for VGA > component. There are a few topics about those in the Hardware Modifications forum.

If S-video and composite are all your TV has, you may have to stick with composite. I seem to recall having an adapter similar to what you're describing (just a really cheap little thing, right?), and if I remember correctly, it only actually output a composite signal, regardless of whether you were using the composite or S-video connector. That's why your S-video input looks wrong; it's being fed a composite signal. Try hooking it up via composite cable rather than S-video. It's not quite as sharp, but if the S-video doesn't work anyway, it's better than nothing.

Finally, you may want to consider just getting a better video card for your computer. If it's running Intel integrated graphics, I'm guessing it's either an older secondary machine for you, or one that you don't care about very much. (So, for example, you wouldn't be interested in the post I made in the Gaming forum regarding a free copy of Arkham Asylum with new higher-end nVidia cards). You can still find an older ATi or nVidia card pretty cheap that's a lot better than what you have, and many cards--depending on maker and on other features--have TV output, particularly if the card includes TV capture or TV tuner capabilities (such as the old All-in-Wonder series). Also, more and more cards are including HDMI outputs... so if your TV has HDMI ports, that makes things very easy.
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Re: TV-out?

Post by hearld500 »

The TV is an old flat panel with only VGA and Svideo inputs. I know I should invest in a new TV, just don't have the resources at the moment.

Would rather not buy a video card if I can avoid it for the time being. The W7 media center worked great as is.

This is the plug.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Adaptor-for-VGA-D-S ... 286.c0.m14
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Re: TV-out?

Post by DaMadFiddler »

Have you tried the RCA connector, or just the S-video?
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Re: TV-out?

Post by Christuserloeser »

If your PC is capable of a TV out, it should at least have a composite out somewhere.
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Re: TV-out?

Post by hearld500 »

DaMadFiddler wrote:Have you tried the RCA connector, or just the S-video?
Yup. Don't get any feed.
Christuserloeser wrote:If your PC is capable of a TV out, it should at least have a composite out somewhere.
Don't know, couldn't find any information about it. It has a integrated Intel GMA950.
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Re: TV-out?

Post by Lartrak »

One thing I will say - there are quite a few video cards that have S-video out but no composite out. I remember finding this VERY annoying in the late 90s and early 2000s as the TV near my computer (a 27" old Sony) didn't have S-video. I did eventually get one of those adapter things, but it didn't work very well.
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Re: TV-out?

Post by Chilly Willy »

If you could tell us the model of the computer, that would help. Just knowing the chipset isn't enough since that doesn't tell us what outputs the motherboard provides.
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Re: TV-out?

Post by hearld500 »

Chilly Willy wrote:If you could tell us the model of the computer, that would help. Just knowing the chipset isn't enough since that doesn't tell us what outputs the motherboard provides.
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Re: TV-out?

Post by Christuserloeser »

From what I found at Gateway, it should have an S-Video out:

http://support.gateway.com/s/Manuals/De ... 510208.pdf (page 12)
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Re: TV-out?

Post by hearld500 »

Christuserloeser wrote:From what I found at Gateway, it should have an S-Video out:

http://support.gateway.com/s/Manuals/De ... 510208.pdf (page 12)
I appreciate you looking, but my machine only has the integrated VGA, not the separate card with Svideo. Trying to avoid having to buy a card, but looks like I might have to break down and do that if theres no work around for the tv-out
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